Tropic

As with a lot of sci-fi there’s more in Tropic than the story of non-identical twins Tristan and Làzaro Guerrero (Louis Peres and Pablo Cobo, respectively) in a very intensive programme of mental and physical tests to prepare (and asses) if they are competent to take part in a colonising space mission.

The earth is doomed due to climate change and the Sun’s transformation to a Red Giant that will destroy life on Earth.
Living with their mother Mayra (Marta Nieto) they are competitive though its in the way that brothers are and both hope to make the cut. The pressure however is immense and that translates into some aggressive competition with their colleagues on the programme and comes to the boil later on in the film.

Everything changes when the twins are swimming and a piece of space debris crashes into the water. Làzaro gets out but Tristan is contaminated by something leaving him mentally and physically scarred. Crucially he’s now unable to continue the course.

It’s at this point that director Edouard Salier (co-written with Mauricio Carrasco and Thibault Vanhulle) possibly tries to slot in comments on society’s attitude to those deemed not to measure up to certain expectations. Tristan dropping out of the programme puts him into a class with others who have their own difficulties and virtually ostracised by everyone around them.

The film however doesn’t become overloaded with these issues to the point of being didactic. They aren’t exactly subtle just cast more as observations for the audience to pick up on, or not.

The core is the family reset with Làzaro continuing with the programme now with mixed feelings about his brother and the people he is now hanging out with. As well as dealing with a splintering relationship with his mother who has given up so much to get him where he is.

This dynamic is tested to the max and the acting here from the three protagonists is excellent. However there needs to be some empathy with them for these elements to properly work and that is missing overall.

Tropic will be on UK and Ireland digital platforms from 4 March 2024.